The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1887-09-10

Queen was angry because | had
brought Tom Collins with me in
stead of the other Tom. and made
false statements on that account.
She then desired that we should
come into the house, pledging her
honor that we should have a pleas
ant evening. / then asked her if
the Queen had not a trap to either
capture or murder us. She would
not deny it, but pledged her word
that / should not be harmed.
We then entered the house and
had very pleasant time, barring
the fact that we considered our lives
IN danger every moment. The only
inmates of the house that night were
the Queen, her sister (who soon re-
tired J, Lorena and her mother At
ter we had been there some time Lo-
rena's mother started to 90 home
She had not been gone more than
fifteen minutes until she came run
ming back much frightened and said
the road down below was full of men
and horses, and the men were all
armed. Lorena whispered to me to
| pay no attention to her mother, as
she often imagined that she saw
things, and that she was labering
under mild form of lunacy. But
this incident put Tom and / on our
guard and we went out alternately
Il fvn 20 tal-
the situation. About an hour after
ward Lorena's mother started again
but did not return. About eleven
O'Clock the Queen left the room, and
Tom had got into one of his mis-
chievous moods. When in one of
these his great delight was to tan
talize some one, and he had no sub
Ject upon this occasion but Lorena.
He said to her that she need not try
to make love to me, as | did not care
for her; that / was engaged to be
married to beautiful young lady
in Monongalia, and that the cere-
mony would take place in week or
two. She became furious and asked
me if it was so. To assist Tom in
his joke / told her it was. She open
ed drawer, drew out dirk knife,
sprang to my side, and before l
could realize what she was about,
she aimed a blow at my heart. But
Tom took in the situation and
caught her arm before the knife pen
etrated my body. Tom then took
the knife from her.
For a few moments she poured
forth torrent of abuse upon me.
She declared that l was no gentle
man or | would not attempt to de-
ceive young girl. This again rails
ed my indignation. l told her that
l had never attempted to deceive
her; that had never spoken word
of love to her, and that l had only
regarded her as dear friend and
had supposed that she had only en-
tertained the same feelings for me.
She then became calm, and Tom
noting the long absense of the
Queen, thought there was mischief
in the air and proposed that we
should 60 back to town. / acceded
to this proposition and Lorena went
with me out on the veranda. She
there begged my pardon for what
she had said and done, pleading as
an apology that she was quite young
and had no one to give her counsel
since her mother became deranged
That she had mistaken my kindness
to mean more than friendship, and
as | had seen fit to choose another
for life companion she hoped the
blessings of heaven would dwell
with us through life.
/ babe her farewell and Tom and
l started on our way home. As we
were passing the barn we saw
number of horses in front of it and
heard men talking. We also heard
the voice of the Queen with them.
We slipped quietly past and hurried
on to Buckhannon.
Had we remained one-half hour
longer, or had we gone horseback,
only the good Being knows what
would have been our doom.
In day or two after was detail
ed to clerk for General Brown at
Clarksburg, and l never saw or heard
of the Rebel Queen since. Lorena
and her parents returned after the
war to their home in the sunny
South, where / hope she is still liv-
ing and enjoying pleasant life.